Moving to Cali! Cultural lessons please.
Hey guys,
So I've accepted a job in California (just waiting on the VISA to come through!) and I've been having some conversations with people about the differences, socially and culturally, between my little corner of the world (New Zealand) and the US.
Mostly, the differences are hilarious. e.g. you can say "fanny" in the US and people don't think it's weird.
Are there any things I should be aware of (both serious and otherwise) once I get there?
Also, is it "Grid Iron" or "American Football"?
So I've accepted a job in California (just waiting on the VISA to come through!) and I've been having some conversations with people about the differences, socially and culturally, between my little corner of the world (New Zealand) and the US.
Mostly, the differences are hilarious. e.g. you can say "fanny" in the US and people don't think it's weird.
Are there any things I should be aware of (both serious and otherwise) once I get there?
Also, is it "Grid Iron" or "American Football"?
Replies
There really doesn't seem like there are that many differences to me when I went traveling abroad but then again I didn't hit New Zealand.
I'd suggest just grabbing a few people and go out for a night or two and explore. Have them show you around and learn your surrounding area.
Lifes an adventure, have fun while you're here!
PS. - Football is soccer here and american football is just called football. Fanny is kinda weird unless you're a mom from the 80s
Thanks! This is helpful stuff. Football is Soccer here too so that's all good. I'm also not a mum from the 80's so thanks for that.
"Boot" in NZ is "Trunk" in US iirc.
The one most important difference you're likely to run into is tipping in restaurants. Just about anywhere you go in the US, you'll be expected to tip in sit-down restaurants. The amount varies and it's definitely dependent on how well you felt you were served, but tips are basically mandatory because serving staff get paid extremely low wages and often make most of their money from tips. A common tip for reasonably good service is between 10-20%, but this can vary widely and shouldn't be taken as gospel truth. Tipping isn't expected or encouraged in fast food places like McDonald's, and may even be against company policy depending upon what company it is.
It's just football here. The football you're used to is commonly called soccer. If you hear some people talking about football, they're almost certainly talking about the American kind unless they're from out of the country.
One thing that's common in the US that seems gross to people from out of the country is peanut butter. I think the main reason is that they think it's supposed to be eaten like Nutella or other dessert-like foods, even though it's really not. Americans eat a lot of peanut butter, and there are a few different kinds, but they don't treat it as a dessert food so much as a food that's used IN desserts to give flavor and texture contrast.
I'm not sure of the obesity stats for NZ, but I can almost guarantee you're going to run into far more fat people than you were used to back home. Many Americans eat huge portions at meals, so you may want to keep that in mind if you order a 'large' anything at a restaurant or fast food place.
What part of California are you heading for, if you don't mind my asking? I'm curious because the state is huge and it varies from region to region. San Francisco and LA are very, very different, for example.
We've got peanut butter here too but instead of "jelly" we have "jam". New Zealand has obesity problems like the rest of the world and I'm pretty sure Australia has overtaken the US as the most obese nation (don't quote me on that).
I also hear California is AWESOME for vegetarians/vegans which works well for me.
- In N' Out. It's the greatest burger chain in the world. Ask any local about it and they'll tell you of its glories.
- Irvine's a conservative stronghold, one of the few in California.
- Some pretty good Viet and Chinese food nearby in Little Saigon.
- Get a car ASAP. You're going to be bored out of your mind until you can drive up to Los Angeles. There's a really awful bus system (OCTA) that no one uses; no other public transit to speak of.
- Tipping; you can usually just double the sales tax and add that to the total and you're good to go.
- Other things no one says: "sweet as," "skody", "biscuits" = cookies, "hundreds and thousands" = sprinkles, fairy bread sounds gross, marmite is gross, etc. also 99% of people will think you're Australian.
The car thing is all good, I'm pretty keen to get some cheap wheels when I get over there so I can do some road tripping. Is Craigslist the best place to find a car?
I've met Americans who thought the Auckland Harbour Bridge went between Australia and New Zealand - awesome!
Another is that in America when people say "hows it going" or "how was your day" they are expecting a small word count response such as "ok" "fine" "feeling sick". I know many people from outside of the US who would start going into a long conversation when these things were said.
We have both jelly and jam. Jelly is generally made with fruit juice, whereas jam is made with the whole fruit. "Jam" and "preserves" are pretty interchangeable here.
I don't know if this is also a problem for people from NZ, but I've heard that some British people get weirded out because they use "jelly" in reference to this jiggly stuff. Jelly in the US is similar to jam or preserves, minus the bits of fruit.
Oh man, that explains a lot. In NZ, "how's it going?" is a conversation starter. I'm always confused as to when I send a message to an American online saying "how's it going?" I often only receive a "?" as a response. I always wondered why that was :P
It makes sitting in traffic a bit more enjoyable... Heh
I managed to score the "Media Artist" role that they were advertising for a while - should be a blast!
Also strangers greeting you with "Hi" or "Hello" in the suburban neighborhood, as if it were a small town. Took me a bit to get used to.
Also if the service is total shite, tip. Some waiters can get very very upset if you don't. No matter how crappy the service
Pubs also usually seemed to like tips. Guess everyone does in the US
Strangers starting a chat with you is also more common than, e.g. in Europe. Before I got used to it I was always like "wtf does this guy want? what's he up to? why is he trying to talk to me??". But apparently some people just like to chat while you wait somewhere.
"Also if the service is total shite, tip. Some waiters can get very very upset if you don't. No matter how crappy the service
Pubs also usually seemed to like tips. Guess everyone does in the US
Yeah, servers make most of their money from tips. They get less than minimum wage without tips.
NEVER BUY ANYTHING WRAPPED IN BACON SOLD BY SOMEONE WHO DOESNT SPEAK ENGLISH
People referring to the '5' or '405', or any number when giving direction, are referring to freeways.
The freeways around Irvine can be a nightmare drive... especially going to LA or San Diego. Just be prepared for good and bad days on the road while living here.
There's a lot of spanish/mexican influence here, and some of the best mexican food around. Take advantage, it's super awesome.
All kinds of coin operated machines take at least quarters but often not much else.
Tipping is going to be really weird... Also, is sales tax listed in prices? Or is that only something that is added at the counter?
Thanks for all the help! Very interesting...
Someone mentioned In N Out but since you'll be in Irvine I can HIGHLY reccomend Sonic. Great fast food there as well, In N Out is great as well no hard feelings on them. There's more In N Outs than Sonics around SoCal.
Most of the time the sales tax will be added at the counter. It's rare that you get the full amount on a listing in price.
And yeah tipping is something I do most of the time as do others here in the area...usually they'll let you know how much the tip amount is depending on how much you spent at the restaurant.
When getting a car definitely start looking around the area for the cheapest gasoline. Some places vary depending on location but yeah try to find a suitable station and one that's in the path you travel from wherever you're staying at to the work place. And yeah traffic is a pain sadly
Any other questions about the LA and Orange County area, shoot away!
Sales taxes are added at the register and aren't listed on prices.
EDIT:
I read too slow, two people beat me to it, lol
Fuck now I need a Blizzard job just for the Yoo-HOO stock.
People get paid wages, right? Tipping sounds like a fuggin pain
Also grats bro
@Nizza - thanks man, are you still in Wellington?
Fun fact: petrol prices in the US work out to be exactly half the cost of petrol in New Zealand so I'm stoked about that!
lol, I get that a lot actually. Fanny!
congrats man...have fun with it
You're actually sending a signal and depending on how much time you have in your encounter you're telling the person how friendly you are and if you want to keep going and start a conversation.
"ok" or "fine" is code for "leave me alone, I don't want to talk, I'm in a crappy mood".
If you response was handing out grades about your mood, you would be telling people you feel like a D (you probably have some crazy kind of grading system so that's another thing you need to be aware of ha). It's probably better to project a more happy or upbeat response, like "doing great". If you're projecting a down beat response like a monotone "f-i-n-e" you turned dolphin sex into "my cat was hit by a car, thanks for not caring... jerk!"
If you're just walking by keep it up beat and short:
A "Hows it going?"
B "Doing great"
A "Good"
B "See ya"
If you're doing something like getting coffee while the other person is waiting for the microwave extend it.
A "Hows it going?"
B "Great, how-bout yourself?"
A "Good, thanks for asking"
B "Sure, see ya around"
Don't leave people hanging:
A "Hows it going?"
B "Fine."
A "...jerk... I'm a person too! I deserve love like everyone else... /soft crying"
Also a lot of shy people wait for other people to start the dance, so don't be freaked out if people just stare at you like "aren't you going to say something?" Because that's what they thinking.
Ahh fuck it just watch this @1:30
http://www.4shared.com/video/pgdi4-JS/SpongeBob_SquarePants-_Not_Nor.html
The response grading scale to the question "hows it going":
A "Amazing! How about yourself?" = My GF just put in a stripper pole in her living room, you could tell me your cat died and I'd keep smiling.
B"Doing good, how about you?" = things could be better, but I'm not going to be a prick about it.
C "Good, thanks for asking" = Bad day, don't talk to me about your cat.
D "fine" "ok" "...blink blink..." = Hey I cared enough not to outright ignore you.
F "..." Your thinking "seriously tell me about your cat and I'll smash this mug and use the jagged pieces to slash both of our wrists" and it shows on your face.
Also... For the most part, don't talk to people while they're pissin. I have no clue if people do this in other countries but just do your stuff and get the hell out, maybe if you accidentally make eye contact while washing your hands or exiting say "hey" but don't use the "hows it going".
Don't freak out if you take a chick out and she says "I'm stuffed". No need to flip the table over and say "woa! I never touched you, I barely know you, you're not getting a dime from me" and then knock a waiter down as you run out the door. It just means she ate too much. I know I got weird looks when I was in NZ and said that, until someone explained it.
Food
That nasty yeast extract shit (Vegemite or whatever) you guys spread on toast, you can get it here but check the date, its probably under an inch of dust. I also remember being served coffee and french fries with pizza when I was in NZ, what the hell people? Beer and pizza its like air and breathing.
Weather and earthquakes
Inches, ft and Fahrenheit. Most cars are MPH, most people despite being taught the metric system in school still use ft and inches. When the radio says its 90 degrees, your blood won't actually start to boil if you go outside heh. But if you're pasty and accustomed to 10c it might seam that way.
The seasons are flipped, your summer is Calif's winter, so all that snow and sledding stuff around Christmas time will finally make sense, but your in So Cal so that means its 80-90f instead of 95-110f.
Also you're no stranger to earthquakes I guess, but like some places deal with snow or tornadoes, California deals with earthquakes. It's like your riding the trouble express around the pacific rim and are pulling into grand central station. It would be wise to pull some supplies together, keep some in your car.
3 states in 1
California is big, I think it might have more land mass than your country... its more or less divided into 3 parts.
Northern, Redding, Eureka. Its like Oregon/Washington lite. Some trees, cooler weather and a good spot to find tree huggin hippies. No you can't hunt them, even though rich silicon valley types try on occasion.
Central, San Franciso, good weather, pretty liberal, pretty techy, pretty pricey.
South, LA and San Diego, its a fuckin desert, don't drink the tap water you're better off drinking your own piss. Try not to breath until the winds kick up and sweeps the smog away. When it rains, things can get pretty jacked up, no one knows how to drive in the rain, there is 6 inches of oil on the roads so you're like a fat kid on a greased slip N slide being shot out of a cannon, no one is going to stop you but some giant immoveable object.
Nobody else mentioned this, but fanny means your butt in the US and 'fanny packs' which were little bags on a belt that you hang off your side/by your rear were popular in the late 80s/early 90s and that's the only context Americans have for it.
The major gripe my brother's girlfriend had when she was over here was the notion of sales tax being added at the counter, and the jacked up supermarket prices on important spices for her currys, but those were to be found cheaper and in larger quantities at dedicated indian stores.
Stone Brewery is based in San Diego and makes some good beer and I'm sure there's better stuff that doesn't get distributed outside of California.
Marmite, Milo, Tim Tams, Bundy Rum (if you drink it), moro bars, pineapple lumps, chocolate fish, moro bars and onion soup. (to make dip from)
Also eat a good filling of Fush and Chups while you are at home. Hard to find a good snapper burger or beer battered fish here. (though I have found a place in Redwood City that does one really well!)
The great thing about food here is that its dirt cheap. We buy organic and its still super cheap compaired to Australia. Though in NZ I know bananas are cheap as.
Yes, they get a wage, but it's below minimum wage.
"heyMateHowsItGoing?Good?"
Then you have the otion to keep it short with a nod or a "yeahmate"
if you want to continue on the convo its seems to always be like a complaint or a jab at the person. like: "bloodyMowerIsBuggeredAgain" or "Back'sBeenABitCrookLately" or "YouLookBuggeredMate!"
/australian lessons
I forgot to mention Hamish; No ruggers and no cricket unless you get some sports cable channels. No Origin for 2 years in a row! /wrists
Goodluck with the move! you will love it here
EDIT: Oh, and it would be weird if you said "fanny." Nobody uses that word. The only real difference is that in the states it's another word (although never used) for rear-end, whereas in NZ I'm sure it's like Britain where it stands for a part of the female anatomy.